Reports: Key witness in Indonesia corruption case dies in US

Updated 10:50 pm, Sunday, August 13, 2017

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who killed himself during an armed Los Angeles standoff last week was an important witness in a sweeping corruption investigation in Indonesia, according to media reports.

Johannes Marliem, 32, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Los Angeles County Coroner's spokeswoman Rayna Hernandez said Sunday.

Febri Diansyah, a spokesman for the Corruption Eradication Commission in Indonesia, told the Jakarta Post that Marliem died in the United States, but he said he didn't have details.

Indonesian anti-corruption police allege that a network of about 80 people, mostly politicians, and several companies used the introduction of a $440 million electronic identity card system to steal more than a third of the allotted funds. Marliem was considered a key witness in the case.

The scandal engulfed the speaker of Indonesia's parliament, once hailed by President Donald Trump as one of Indonesia's most powerful men. Setya Novanto told a televised news conference Tuesday he would respect the legal process, but that there was no truth to the accusation that he stole more than $40 million.

Los Angeles SWAT officers found Marliem's body inside his home around 2 a.m. Thursday after he held police at bay for more than nine hours.

A woman and child left the house unharmed after the standoff began Wednesday evening. Police didn't confirm whether they were Marliem's wife and child.

Several streets in the Beverly Grove neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles were closed while authorities negotiated with the armed man.

The FBI served a federal warrant at Marliem's home last week, bureau spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Sunday. The affidavit is sealed so she was prohibited from providing further details.

Marliem claimed to have a recording of the conversations he had with politicians who allegedly orchestrated the identity card scheme, the Jakarta Post reported. He was the director of Biomorf Lone, a U.S.-based company that had been awarded the project to procure an automated fingerprint system for the electronic identity program.